I'm going to need a chiropractor after this job gets finished due to all the "bending over backwards" for the client.
This sweet "little old lady" was widowed not too long ago. To add injury to her situation, her oldest son, who she had relied upon heavily after her husband passed, also left us suddenly in an automobile accident not too long ago. She and her husband had managed to cobble up a number of tracts over the years to create a nice 70 acre estate. They had also regularly whittled off a few smaller tracts for in-laws and grandkids. The State also took their share when the highway was widened a few years ago. I believe all in all I'm working with about 17 or 18 conveyances.
At first she appeared to really not know exactly how much property was in the estate and wanted to rely on "a survey" to determine the estate's extents. I did all my research at the courthouse and due to jointly owned property, a trust and a number of miscellaneous quit claims I racked up a great deal of time spent there. About a month ago I discovered she was in possession of a fairly recent abstract. Great! Except that her daughter (who is less than knowledgeable about property matters) is extremely paranoid of my working on "Mother's property" and has kept me from even seeing the abstract. I don't think the daughter has any sort of secret agenda, she is just scared to death someone is going to try and get something over on her mother, despite all my attempts to gain her trust.
I have another (one of several) meetings with them again today to show them the latest and greatest version of the survey. I would rather have attempted to put together a jigsaw puzzle with my eyes closed. I've got so many hours in this thing I seriously quit counting.
Maybe I will complete this survey before I retire....
paden cash, post: 327614, member: 20 wrote: ... I did all my research at the courthouse and ... racked up a great deal of time spent there.....
In hindsight, it might have been well to order a title report yourself. Not that doing so would entirely release you from research responsibilities, but it probably would have been money well spent. And just as billable as your hours are.
I sympathize for the concerns of the daughter and the elderly mother. Too often, thus is a scenario where the professional ÛÏbottom feedersÛª of society move in and take advantage of their situation. These professionals such as estate and tax attorneys, accountants, realtors prey on the assets of the estate by overcharging, racking up billable hours, etc. etc. etc. Sometimes these professionals are honored members or pillars of the community but they exploit this niche for their financial gain within legal bounds and sometimes outside of legal bounds. ( I witnessed a very prominent attorney- ex marine too who went to Vanderbilt and a law degree at an Ivy League university plunder someoneÛª family estate.) It happens every day. When the professional surveyor enters the picture, they are seen as another in the progression of pillagers to the estate.
I have seen this also happen to people who were survivors of disasters such as hurricanes. After suffering total loss, a line forms of various professionals, insurance agents and appraisers, tradesmen who take down payments and flee etc. to profit off of other's misfortunes. I am certain that you have seen this after the devastation of tornadoes in OK.
After Katrina, a friend called me for surveying services. He had total loss of his home and also his mother's home. He needed help with a survey for the demolition and rebuild. I squeezed in his survey for a very modest cost. When I presented him the invoice, he accused me as a land surveyor of being another in the line of vultures who were exploiting his situation. I understood his mind set from the tensions that he was going though at the time. But I was offended and it did end our friendship.
Speaking of Katrina, it is the tenth anniversary. After the flood, I was in the city doing a lot of work for COE, USCGS, FEMA and others. Access to the city was still limited in many ways. People asked me at the time of my opinion of the damage and the future. I thought that it would take 15-20 years for the city to return too normal. So it has been ten years and there have been giant strides in the rebuilding and recovery. Various businesses and venues have reopened and are reopening all the time. But there is still no hospital to replace the former main hospital of the city. Construction has begun but it will take another 5 years or so.
Norman Oklahoma, post: 327648, member: 9981 wrote: In hindsight, it might have been well to order a title report yourself. Not that doing so would entirely release you from research responsibilities, but it probably would have been money well spent. And just as billable as your hours are.
You're oh so correct. I thought there would only be two or three docs and I'd be out of there...but it was like opening a self-extracting file, once I started it just mushroomed.
Hindsight is SO 20/20.
The guy I'm working with right now has a job that is going into year three, family division of agricultural land between 2 brothers and 3 sisters. The brothers were smart and years ago before the patriarch passed each took 800 acres, which they farm, and also farm the remaining 2400 for the sisters until they can decide who gets what.
The upside is they pay regularly for everything they want done, and for the preliminary just want flagged stakes so they can see where the corners would fall. The downside is, as soon as it is done, the sisters all fly into a tizzy, stop talking to each other and it goes on the back burner for another 6 months.
He is convinced he will either die or retire before they decide, or worse yet, one of the sisters will pass which will get the kids and grandkids in the picture.
paden cash, post: 327675, member: 20 wrote: You're oh so correct. I thought there would only be two or three docs and I'd be out of there...but it was like opening a self-extracting file, once I started it just mushroomed.
Hindsight is SO 20/20.
Yea, Normans advice is REALLY good advice in that situation.
I just advised a partner to do exactly that with a parcel surveyed by 8 surrounding surveys at the top of a ridge. Bad physical situation for traditional surveys. The parcel itself had never been surveyed. All leftovers.
In fact I also spoke to his client about it and told them to get the title report to him, ASAP!
Some of those surveys go back to 1915. OMG! The paper headaches he avoided are significant when considered with the ones in the field he took on. He's thankful the county road department set so many PI's and ROW points to get some critical alignments for subdivisions adjacent where monumentation was wiped out.
I had referred the client to him as I don't do GPS, but had worked up a number of monuments on one side and seen some big busts in deeds closing the other side. So I knew what he was in for and wanted to try and see his tendency to give too good of deal didn't back fire on him by getting the client to obtain the title report in advance of his getting into it.
